Controlled scribbling: coloring at about 18 months to 2 years

What a child at this stage can usually do

• Scribbles without being shown first, and can copy a line someone else draws
• Makes round looping marks and up and down strokes on purpose
• Turns the pages of a book one at a time
• Keeps most of the marks somewhere on the drawing rather than all over the table

What to look for in a page

• Thick outlines still, but the shape can have two or three parts now
• One drawing per page, and nothing else on the sheet competing for attention
• A word printed under the drawing, so naming comes along with coloring

How it actually goes at the table

On the sheet you start to see the change. The marks gather nearer the middle of the drawing instead of running off the page, round scribbles appear alongside the straight sweeps, and one spot often gets colored over and over until the paper shines.

A session now runs about three to seven minutes. The child also starts lifting the crayon and putting it down again, rather than dragging it in one continuous motion, which is why the page looks busier than it did a few months ago.

If the child leaves after a minute, check the crayon before you check the child. A thin marker or a short stub is hard to hold at this age, and a page that has already been scribbled over gives nothing new to look at. A fresh sheet often brings them straight back.

The most common mistake is turning to a new page every time the child pauses. Pausing is part of the work at this stage, and the same drawing returned to three times teaches more than three drawings abandoned once each.

Questions parents ask at this stage

These guides answer the questions that come up most often while a child is at this stage: what to draw with, how long a child usually sits with one page, and what to do about the mess.